Game board device



July 17, 1934. L. L. FULLER 1,966,793

GAME BOARD DEVI CE Filed May l, 1935 z l /l ,Z Z l interes nonno nevicanon it. por-nam, N. o. Atentados tiny, i, nies, saisine. sessie ilClaims.

This invention-relates'hroedly to gaine board devices and particularlyto a war gaine in which .playing pieces representing ring units ofopposing armies are moved into various positions on a hoard to fire uponopposing pieces in certain other positions on the board.

A broad object oi the invention is to provide a game that involvesslrill in playing, with or without the element of chance at the optionof the' sition into which it may he moved.

playing pieces.

Stili another object is to provide a war game board with cooperatingpieces representing firing units adapted to he moved into variousprescribed positions on the hoard, in which receptacles for receivingthe pieces areprovided in the various l, positions (and the receptaclesso shaped or in clined with reference to the pieces as to differentlylimit the eective range of hre of the pieces in the various positions.

The construction'y and inode oi 'operation oi the device will beapparent from the following detailed description which refers to thedrawmg; i

Figure 1 is a plan view'oi a genie hoard in accordance with theinvention; l

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the con-lstruction of one ci thepieces to be used with the board;

Figure 3 is a plan view of a spinner element that may be employed inplaying the game; and

Figure 4 is a detailed sectional View, talr'en in the plane Ill-1V orFigure 1, showing the construction oi? the receptacles for receivingkthe As shown in Figure 1, rny game boardroomprises a base having aplurality oi spaced apart receptacles for receiving' playing pieces.'Ii'he receptacles are indicated as the small circles ynumlc'ered 2 to2o, inclusive, and 25thV T2li', in-

elusive, on .rieure l. Each receptaclel actually comprises a shallow,circular opening or' hole in the hoard. Thus, as shown in Fiigure t, the

hoard Se ice oi substantial thiclmess inchA (Cl. 27g-Ml) or more) andthe receptacles provided by drilling holes in the board, such as shownat 2, which holes are ofsubstantial depth butdo not extend completelythrough the board. All of the receptacles shown in Figure 1, with theexception oi receptacles 19 and 19', are formed the same as thereceptacle 2 shown in Figure i. The re. ceptacles 19 and 19', however,are formed in separate blocks 31, which may be glued or otherwisesecured to the surface of the board 30. The blocks 31 are'inclined asshownin Figure l for a. purpose to be described later.

Each playing piece may be in soldier as shown in Figure 2y having a rie26 at shoulder position and extending horizontally as shown. and isprovided with a base designated 'l generally at 27 adapted to iit intothe receptacles on' the hoard. Thus, each base may comprise a lowercylindrical portion 28 adapted to it snugly within the receptacles andbe held securely against tipping when inserted in the receptacle. Animportant feature of the game is that each piece i the formof o whenpositioned within a receptacle has its hori' zontal firing rangerestricted to a deiinite arc.

"To this end, the cylindrical portion 28 of the.

hase oeach piece is `provided at one side with an outwardly projectingkey 29 and each receptacle is provided with a key-way 32 adapted toreceive the irey 29 of a piece positioned in that receptacle. By varyingthe circumferential lengths of the key-ways 32 vin diierent receptacles,the latitude of rotation of pieces positioned in the differentreceptacles may be varied. Thus, referring to Figure l, the receptacle13 is provided with a relatively narrow key-way 32 which is only largeenough to receive the key 29 of a piece so that a lpiece inserted inreceptacle 13 cannot he `turned and can point only in onedirection. It

l mitting a piece positioned therein to'be rotated through an arcsufficient tore either on recep tacle 9 or receptacle 10. it can bereadily determined by inspection of the board what the hori vaoritalrange of a piece positioned in any receptacle will be. It will beobserved that because of the positioning and dimensioning oi thekey-ways on the various receptacles, some receptacles are in the line o:dre of pieces in sorneV other reco teclee but out oi the line or rangeor the `oisnii so j other receptacles. Some of the receptacles, such as14, 14', 11, 11 and 20 have two disconnected key-ways so that a piecepositioned therein has two separate ranges of lire but cannot be changedfrom one range tothe other without removing the piece from thereceptacle and reinserting it.

I prefer to make the positions represented by` some oi' the receptaclesinvulnerable to ilre from pieces in all but a limited number of otherreceptacles and to this end the board is either painted or constructedto indicate that receptacles 2, 3, 4, 5, 2', 3', 4' and 5' are intrenches which are protected from horizontal ilre. Thus, the` crosshatched areas 1 and 1' may be colored distinctive-V ly to indicatetrenches and the shaded areas surrounding receptacles 6, 7, 8, 6', 'I'and 8 may be colored the same as the areas lfto indicate that the latterreceptacles representV positions in shell holes shielded from horizontalfire. Since all of the receptacles except 19 and 19' have vertical axes,pieces positioned therein will lproject very holes.

tically and the riiles on the pieces will extent horizontally so thatpieces in those receptacles cannot fire on pieces positioned in thetrenches or shell However, because of the fact that the receptacles 19and 19 are inclined from the vertical as shown-in Figure 4, the riie ofa piece positioned in either one of those receptacles is deflecteddownwardly to command the associated trench. Thus, the receptacle 19commands the receptacles 2 in the trench 1 and the receptacle 19commands the receptacles 2' in the trench 1.

To readily distinguish them from thev other receptacles, receptacles 19and 19' may be surrounded with colored areas 33, colored differentlyfrom the areas representing the trenches and the shell holes.

The various straight lines connecting diiIerent receptacles indicate thepermissible paths of movement of pieces from one receptacle to an=lother. Obviously, the total number of receptacles, their positions andthe permissible paths of moveployed to represent pieces in opposingarmies,

/ each'set being differently colored so that they may be readilydistinguished apart. Many different rules may be adopted for playingvthe game but a desirable set of rulesis as follows:

(1) Each player starts with a set of 11 pieces located in thereceptacles 2 and 2', respectively,

.in the trenches positioned on opposite sides of the board:

(2) The players in checkers;

(3) On each turn aplayer may move twice or shoot once; f

(4) Pieces may be moved in either direction but only .along the linesinterconnecting the receptacles; y

(5) The determination of whethera shot is a hit or a miss is left tochance, by spinning an arrow on an indicator such as is shown in Figure3. The tw'o halves of the indicator; cardl are colored differently andif the head ofthe arrow comesto rest on one color the shot is counted asa hit, and if it comes to rest on the other color the shot is counted asa miss.

(6) A piece that has been hit is removed from the board and thatplayerwins who first succeeds in eliminating, vor hemming in to preventfurther movement, all the' pieces his Opponent,

play `alternately in turns as (7) Pieces in the receptacles in the shellholes or trenches cannot shoot.

(8) Pieces in the shell holes cannot behit from y any other position.

(9) Pieces in the trenches cannot be hit except by pieces in theelevated and inclined receptacles 19 and 19', respectively.

(10) Shifting a piece in one of the doiible range receptacles 14, 14',11, 11' or 20 from one range to the other c'ounts as a move.

(11) A player may pass. If both players pass in succession, the game isa draw.

As will be noted, there are certain favorable places into which a playertries to get his pieces as soon. as possible. To give some idea of thestrategy of the game, it may be pointed out that positions 14 and 14',are easily arrived at from the trench positions adjacent thereto and arefavorable positions in which to get a piece for the Vreason that theycontrol wide areas. V'.lheir 95 weakness consists in the fact thatpieces in those positions maybe shot by pieces in positions 11 and 11'whereas the latter positions are out of the range of nre of piecesinreceptacles 14 and 14. Positions 11 and 11'l are less easily arrivedat than positions 14 and 14 butcontrol a wider area and are lessvulnerable. 'The only position from which receptacles 11 and 11 may befired upon is receptacle 20. It should be noted that a piece inreceptacle 20 cannot be shot from rei ceptacles 11 or 11' but that ithas a very limited range itself` and is vulnerable vfrom the easilyarrived at positions'14 and V14'. n ,I

It will be observed from inspection of the board that some positions areineffective so far as shoot- 1,10

Ving is concerned. Thus,y a piece positioned in receptacle 9 or 9' willbe pointed straight oil the eld and a piece in receptacles 15 or 15 willhave in its range of re only the shell hole position'4 V7k or 7' whichis invulnerable to fire. It willalsoV be observed that quite a number ofpositions control only one other position.

Obviously many variations may be made in the board and in the rules forplaying the game, I some of which changes will now be discussed.

Rule 3 may be changed, if desired, to permit a player on each turn tomove only once or shoot once. This introduces more luck into the game.

If desired, the element of chance may be eliminated and the game madeone of pure skill by considering that every shot is a hit. If this isdone, the. game is much like checkers` or chessin its intellectualdemandsV Where the element .of chance is eliminated it is perhaps bestto make oneshot equal to three moves so that a turn con- 313 sists oflshooting once or making three moves.

It is to be understood, of course, that where the chance element isintroduced, it need not necessarily be provided by aspinner. Dice may beemployed. Furthermore, if a spinner is used, @1T-:5 the chances ofhitting or missing may ve varied. Thus, three-'fourths of the circle inwhich the spinner rotates might be painted one color and onlythe`remaining quarter another color. A single die may be substituted for thespinner, the T15 die having 2, 3, 4 or even 5 of its six sides paintedone color andOthe remainder another color.

Obviously, the game need not be confined to the particular arrangementof receptacles and interconnecting lines shown in Figure 1. A much l'lmore complicated iield could be drawn up and, to avoid confusion in a,more complicated field,

'the distance a piece might shoot could be limited.

If desired, the rules of the game'may be altered to permit pieces inshell holes or trenches to shoot although still making them invulnerableto lire from other positions.

Although in the particular board described and shown in the drawing thetrenches and shell ho-les are represented by colored areas, if desiredthe eld may be constructed of stamped or molded material in which thetrenches and shell holes are actually depressed below the level of there- Inainder of the field. By so depressing the trenches and shell holesand employing pieces of suitable height, it may be made apparent frominspection of the board with the pieces positioned thereon that thepieces in the trenches and shell holes can neither iire on other piecesor be fired upon from other positions (with the exception, of course, ofpositions 19 and 19' which command the trenches adjacent thereto).Alternatively, instead of depressing the areas of the board representingthe trenches and shell holes, those areas might be realistically shownas protected positions by providing an elevated barrier or parapet infront of the trenches and surrounding each shell hole.

Because of the fact that numerous variations in the game board devicedescribed may be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention, it is understood that the limits of the invention are to bedefined o'nly as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a war game device, a playing board representing a eld o f action,having a plurality of receptacles thereon for determining the possibleposition in which playing pieces may be placed, two sets of playingpieces representing ring units of opposing armies, each piece includinga pointer element indicating the direction of fire of the piece andhaving a base portion adapted to be rotatably supported in saidreceptacles, and cooperating elements on one at least of said pieces andone at least of said receptacles for positively limiting the arc ofrotation of that piece in that receptacle and correspondingly limitingthe range of iire of the piece when in that position.

2. In a war game device, a playing board representing a field of action,having a plurality of receptacles thereon for determining the possibleposition in which playing pieces may be placed, two sets o playingpieces representing firing units of opposing armies, each pieceincluding a pointer element indicating the direction of re of the pieceand having a base portion adapted to be rotatably supported in saidreceptacles, each piece also including a stop element andthe receptaclescomprising means cooperating with the stop elements on the pieces forpositively limiting.

the arc of rotation of pieces positioned in different receptacles bydifferent amounts whereby pieces in different position on said boardhave diierent ranges of re.

3. In a war game device, a playing board representing a iield of action,having a plurality of receptacles thereon for determining the possibleposition in which playing pieces may be placed, two sets of playingpieces representing ring units of opposing armies, each piece includinga pointer eiement indicating the direction of re of the piece and havinga base adapted to register with said-receptacles, some of saidreceptacles being so directed as to limit the vertical angle of re of apiece therein to one elevation and other receptacles being so directedas to limit the vertical angle of fire of a piece therein to anotherelevation, and some of said receptacles being distinctively identied torepresent positions vulnerable to re at oneof said elevations andinvulnerable to re at the other elevation.

4. n a war game device, a playing board rrepresenting a field of action,having a plurality of receptacles thereon for determining the possibleposition in which playing pieces may be placed, two sets of playingpieces representing firing units of opposing armies, each pieceincluding a pointer element indicating the direction of lire of thepiece and having a base adapted to register with said receptacles, a rstand a second group of said receptacles respectively being positioned onopposite sides of said board and distinctively identified to representpositions invulnerable from'horizontal re, other receptaclesintermediate the rst and second groups distinctively identified Atorepresent positions vulnerable to horizontal fire, at least one of saidother receptacles being so directed that the kvertical angle of re of apiece positioned therein is inclined below the horizontal to permit itto re on pieces in at least one of said first and second groups ofreceptacles.

5. A war game device as described in claim 3 in which some of saidreceptacles are grouped and identiiied to represent positions injuxtaposed trenches invulnerable to attack, other receptacles are spacedbetween the trenches and identied to represent positions in shell holesinvulnerable to attack, and still other receptacles are spaced betweenthe trenches in positions in the line of lire from pieces in somereceptacles and out of line or"l re of pieces in other receptacles.

6. A war game device as described in claim 2 to permit rotation of thepiece therein through at least two distinct ranges of orientation whilepreventing rotation of the piece from one range to the other withoutremoving the piece from the receptacle. f

8. A war game device as described in claim 2 in which the variousreceptacles are interconnected with indicating lines for indicating beetween which receptacle pieces may be moved, in which one of saidreceptacles is identified to represent a base position for initiallyplacing a piece at the beginning of a game, in which an intermediatereceptacle shaped to substantially limit the range of nre or a piecetherein lis connected directly to said base position, and in which`still another receptacle shaped to permit wide range of re or" a piecetherein is connected to said base position only through saidintermediate receptacle.

LON L.' FULLER.

